Refrigeration apparatus



Feb. 26, 1935. G, A, E N R 1.992379 REFRIGERATION APPARATUS Filed April 15, 1934 INVENTOR GEORGE R. LEYNER ATTOR Patented Feb. 26, 1935 REFRIGERATION APPARATUS GeorgeA. Leyner, Springfield, Mass., assignor to Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company, East Pittsburgh, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application April 13, 1934, Serial No. 720,376

7 Claims. (Cl. 62-126) My invention relates to refrigeration apparatus and particularly to a cooling element or evaporator for use with mechanical refrigeration apparatus.

It is an object of my invention to provide an improved evaporator construction and refrigerant circuit therefor.

It is another object of my invention to provide a refrigerant circuit in an evaporator in such a manner that a minimum amount of conduit is exposed.

It is a further object of my invention to provide a novel and efficient refrigerant circuit for an evaporator having one or more shelves through which refrigerant is conveyed.

It is a still further object of my invention to provide a novel and improved refrigerant circuit in an evaporator of the welded sheet metal type and in which refrigerated shelves are provided.

These and other objects are efiected by my invention, as will be apparent from the following description and claims, taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, forming apart of this application, in which:

Fig. 1 is a front sectional View of an evaporator constructed in accordance with my invention and taken on line II of Fig. 2;

Fig. 2 is a portion of a side view of the evap-' orator; and,

Fig. 3 is a sectional view of the evaporator taken on line III-III of Fig. 1 and shows particularly the refrigerated .shelf of the evaporator.

My invention contemplates the use of the refrigerant passages of an evaporator to convey refrigerant to the evaporator and to one or more refrigerated shelves thereof whereby forced circulation of refrigerant is accomplished and whereby all conduit connections in the evaporator are concealed.

Referring specifically to the drawing for adetailed description of my invention, numeral 1 designates generally an evaporator having its walls bent to form. a U-shaped freezing chamber 2. The walls include an inner wall and an outer wall 4 and are formed of sheet metal, at least one of the walls 4 being corrugated as shown at 5 to form, with. the other wall 3, refrigerant containing passageways 6. Headers 7 and 8 are formed at the upper ends of the walls 2 and connect with the passageways 6. An auxiliary header 9 is formed in the wall 4 at the bottom thereof and connects with the passageways 6 for a purpose hereinafter described. A cross header 10 connects the headers? and 8 and an outlet conduit 11 is provided substantially in the center of the cross header 10 The evaporator construction is fully described and claimed in the copending application of J. H. Ashbaugh and W. B. Anderson, filed July 10, 1934, Serial No. 734,470, for Refrigeration apparatus, assigned to the same assignee as the present application, and further detailed description of the evaporator is, therefore, deemed unnecessary.

Refrigerated shelves 12 and 13 are fastened to the inner wall 3 by any suitable means, such as by welding or brazing. Each refrigerated shelf is formed of a fiat upper sheet 14 of metal and a corrugated lower sheet 15 of metal which are welded together between the corrugations and at the meeting edges, whereby serpentine passageways 16 are formed in the shelves to obtain uniform cooling of the shelf surface.

Refrigerant, usually in. the liquid state, is delivered to an inlet conduit 1'7 which inlet conduit preferably extends through the walls of the header 8 and one of the corrugations 5. The conduit 17 communicates with the upper refrigerated shelf 12 as shown at 18, passing through wall 3, whereby refrigerant liquid is forced through serpentine passages 16 in shelf 12. Another conduit 19 extends into a corrugation 5 formed in the opposite wall of the U-shaped evaporator from that wall into which the conduit 17 extends and, after passing through wall 3 communicates with the shelf 12 at 21 and with the shelf 13 at 22, whereby refrigerant from shelf 12 is forced through conduit 19 and passages 16 of the shelf 13. The passages 16 of shelf 13 are slightly larger than those of the shelf 12 to provide for conveying the same amount of refrigerant in both shelves. A larger volume is conveyed in the lower shelf due to expansion of the refrigerant during its passage through the upper shelf 12. A third conduit 23' passes through wall 3 on the same side of the evaporator as the conduit 17 and connects at 24 with the shelf 13 and at 25 v. th the auxiliary header 9 at the bottom of the evaporator. Refrigerant is therefore forced from the refrigerated shelf 12 to conduit 23 and to the auxiliary header or manifold 9.

Refrigerant is then distributed through the auxiliary manifold 9 to the main passageways 6 wherein it is forced upwardly to headers 7 and 8, to cross header 10 and refrigerant vapor is removed from the cross header 10 through outlet conduit 11, as well as lubricant which has entered the evaporator.

The refrigerant is therefore conveyed in series through the first refrigerated shelf, the second refrigerated shelf, and the walls of the evaporator, whereby forced circulation is obtained through all the parts of the evaporator. The arrows in Fig. 2 show the refrigerant circuit. Refrigerant vapor is therefore forced to the vapor outlet and lubricant is conveyed through the evaporator. The conduit connections to the evaporator and to the refrigerated shelves are concealed and all the heat absorbed by the refrigerant is utilized for cooling the evaporator. It is apparent that my invention may be applied to any type of evaporator andto any number of refrigerated shelves, although the invention is particularly adapted to sheet metal evaporators wherein some of the passageways are used for conveying refrigerant in a predetermined circuit;

While I have shown my invention in but one form, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that it is not so limited, but is susceptible of various changes and modifications, without departing from the spirit thereof, and I desire, therefore, that only such limitations shall be placed thereupon as are imposed by the prior art or as are specifically set forth in the appended claims. Y

What I claim is:

1. A refrigerant containing evaporator including flat sheets of metal disposed adjacent each other and welded together, said assembled sheets forming two parallel vertical walls and a connecting bottom wall to provide an ice freezing container, corrugations formed in one of the sheets to provide a series of vertically extending refrigerant passages in the parallel walls, a header extending transversely of the. passageways of both vertical walls and disposed adjacent the bottom thereof, shelf means including refriger- .ant passageways therein, an inlet conduit for conveying refrigerant to the evaporator, said inlet conduit extending lntoone of the corrugations near the top thereof to convey refrigerant downwardly through the corrugation and through the inner evaporator wall to the passageways of the shelf means, and conduit means extending through the inner evaporator walls and into one of the corrugations to connect the passageways in the shelf means with the transverse header, whereby refrigerant .is circulated downwardly through some of the passages in said vertical walls and through the shelf means and upwardly through a plurality of passageways in said vertical walls.

2. A refrigerant containing evaporator including flat sheets of metal disposed adjacent each other and welded together, said assembled sheets forming two parallel-vertical walls and a connecting bottom wall to provide an ice freezing container, corrugations formed in one of the sheets to provide a series of vertically-extending refrigerant passageways, headers formed at the upper ends of each of the parallel walls and connecting vertically-extending refrigerant passageways, refrigerant outlet means from said headers, an auxiliary header extending transversely of the passages and connecting th bottoms of passageways of both vertical walls, and an inlet conduit for conveying refrigerant to the evaporator, said inlet conduit extending into one of said vertical passageways near the top thereof to convey refrigerant downwardly to the auxiliary header and from thence upwardly through a'plurallty of the passageways in both vertical walls to said upper headers and from thence to said outletmeans.

3. A refrigerant containing evaporator including flat sheets of metal disposed adjacent each other and welded together, said assembled sheets forming two parallel vertical walls and a connecting bottom wall to provide an ice freezing container, corrugations formed in one of the sheets to provide a series ,of vertically-extending refrigerant passageways, headers formed at the upper ends of each of the parallel walls and connecting vertically-extending refrigerant pas.- sageways, refrigerant outlet means from said headers, an auxiliary header extending transversely of the passages and connecting the bottoms of passageways of both vertical walls, a shelf means provided with refrigerant passageway therein, an inlet conduit for conveying refrigerant'to the evaporator, said inlet conduit extending into one of the vertical passageways for conveying refrigerant through the passageway and through the inner evaporator wall to the passageways in the shelf means, and conduit means extending from the, passageways in. the shelf means and. through the inner evaporator wall to a vertically-extending corrugation for conveying refrigerant to the auxiliary headensaid refrigerant being thence conveyed upwardly through a plurality of the passageways in both walls to said upper headers and from thence to said outlet means.

4. A refrigerant containing evaporator including fiat sheets of metal disposed adjacent each other and welded together, said assembled sheets forming two parallel vertical walls, and a con-' necting bottom wall to provide an -ice freezing container, corrugations formed in one of the sheets to provide a series of vertically-extending refrigerant passageways, headers formed at the upper ends of each of the parallel walls and connecting vertically-extending refrigerant passageways, refrigerant outlet means from said headers, an auxiliary header extending transversely of. the passages and connecting the bottoms of passageways of both vertical walls, a plurality of shelves fastened to the walls of the ice freezing chamber,

refrigerant passageways provided in the shelves,

an inlet conduit for conveying refrigerant to the evaporator, said inlet conduit extending into one of the vertical passageways for conveying refrigerant through the passageway and through the inner evaporator wall to the passageways in the uppermost shelf means, conduit means extending through the inner walls of the evaporator and into vertically-extending passageways for attached between the walls and having refrigerant passageways therein, means for conveying refrigerant'in series first to the passageways in the shelf and thence to the bottoms of passageways in the vertical walls and upwardly therethrough, said means being substantially contained within'the confines of said passageways.

6. A refrigerant containing evaporator comprising a plurality of vertically-extending walls and a connecting bottom wall all having communicating refrigerant passageways therein, a shelf attached between the vertical walls above the connecting bottom wall and having refrigerant passageways therein; and means for conveying refrigerant in series, first, to the passageways in the shelf and, thence, to the passageways in the bottom wall for transmission to the passageways in the vertical walls, said conveying means being substantially contained within the confines of said passageways.

7. A refrigerant containing evaporator comprising a vertically-extending wall having refrig- 10 erant passageways therein, a horizontal shelf attached intermediately of the vertically-extending wall and. having refrigerant passageways therein, and. means for conveying refrigerant in series first to the passageways in the shelf, and thence to the bottoms of the passageways in the vertical wall for transmission upwardly through the passageways in the vertical wall, said means being substantially contained within the confines of said passageways.

- GEORGE A. IEYNER.

v DISCLAIMER, 1,992,379.Ge0rge A. Leg

ner, Springfield, Mass. REFRIGERATION APPARATUS. Paijent, dated February 26, 1935. D 

